Award winning broadcaster and journalist Ellen Fanning will host ABC Radio Brisbane Drive in 2025.
A Brisbane native, Ellen started her career in commercial radio in 1988.
At 24, she broke new ground, becoming the first woman to host one of ABC’s prestigious national current affairs radio programs, PM.
After two years at the helm of PM she spent several years anchoring AM and serving as occasional host of ABC TV’s 7.30 Report.
Ellen has also served as the ABC’s Washington correspondent and was co-host of The Drum on ABC TV from 2017 until 2023.
“I’m delighted to be joining ABC Radio Brisbane in 2025,” Ellen said.
“After years reporting big national and international stories, I’m thrilled to be back home in Brisbane. I grew up in Brisbane and Logan and made my start in journalism in this city.
“Over the past 25 years, Brisbane has grown and changed. Since moving back here in 2023, I’ve quickly remembered what makes this city and its people tick. I cannot wait to be telling their stories and sharing the news highlights of the day in Drive. Plus, to hear from you on the daily drive home.”
Current Drive host Kelly Higgins-Devine will move back to Evenings in 2025 and Evenings presenter Rebecca Levingston will finish at the end of the year.
Rebecca said: “20 years of ABC radio has been a million different experiences for me. My time on air has been surprising, lifechanging and hilarious.
“I’m so grateful to my listeners and my colleagues for sharing stories that will stay with me forever.
“I’m thrilled to head off on my next adventure.”
ABC Radio Brisbane Local Manager Anthony Frangi said: “We are delighted to welcome Ellen to ABC Radio Brisbane. A formidable journalist and experienced presenter with a resolute passion for what makes Brisbane tick, she will add considerable weight to our line up in 2025.
“I would like to thank Rebecca Levingston for her work on Evenings this year.”
About Ellen Fanning
Ellen Fanning started a career in commercial radio in 1988, after graduating with a communications degree from the Queensland University of Technology. At 24, she broke new ground, becoming the first woman to host one of ABC prestigious national current affairs radio programs. Two years at the helm of PM were followed by several years anchoring AM and serving as occasional host of ABC TV’s 7.30 Report.
Ellen served as the ABC’s Washington correspondent, returning to Australia in 2000 to report for the Nine Network’s 60 Minutes. She was the last presenter of the Nine Network’s prestigious Sunday program and a columnist on legendary The Bulletin magazine.
She has reported from locations as diverse as Transylvania and the North Pole, under the Indian Ocean aboard an Australian Navy submarine and 30,000 feet over Serbia from a US Airforce refuelling jet. She has interviewed every current and former Australian Prime Minister, and has met and interviewed world leaders from France, Britain, Ireland, Israel and the United States.
Fanning wrote and directed a six-part documentary series titled Fine Line for SBS TV in 2002, and in 2013, returned to SBS to host the 20-episode series, The Observer Effect.
In 2014, she returned to the ABC where she has worked for the past decade, presenting Life Matters on ABC Radio National and more recently hosting ABC TV’s national current affairs program, The Drum, a role shared with Julia Baird.
Fanning returned to her home town of Brisbane in 2023. In 2024, she was a recipient of QUT’s Outstanding Alumni Award.